With `Cap` Gone, Restraint Could Become Order Of Day

November 6, 1987|By JOHN H. CUSHMAN JR., The New York Times

WASHINGTON -- Caspar W. Weinberger`s legacy to the military, after seven years in which the Pentagon spent a total of $2 trillion, appears to be a future in which budgets will expand slowly or not at all.

And the spending restraints, it appears, will mean not only fewer research projects, more gradual purchasing of weapons and constraints on routine operations, but also a modest reversal in the growth of military forces.

Weinberger formally resigned as defense secretary on Thursday, insisting that the federal deficit should not be lowered at the Pentagon`s expense, but senior Pentagon officials who are staying on the job are predicting reductions in military forces.

Congress is in the midst of negotiations aimed at reducing proposed military spending to about $289 billion, or perhaps less, this year. And senior Pentagon and congressional officials agreed in interviews that next year`s budget was likely to be cut by at least $30 billion from the Pentagon`s request for $332 billion.

``That is not an inconsequential adjustment to the program,`` said Robert Helm, the Pentagon`s controller. ``Force structure adjustments, while they would not be preferred, I don`t think can be ruled out.``

As the Pentagon`s senior financial officer, Helm is trying to work out a way of dealing with the potential reductions in spending that could be imposed Nov. 20 under the deficit reduction laws unless a budget compromise is reached by Congress and the Reagan administration.

He said the Pentagon`s decision to exempt military personnel from those automatic cuts did not necessarily mean manpower would not be reduced in the future.

Under Weinberger, the number of people in the military did not increase dramatically, but the size of the forces grew markedly. The Navy grew by 90 ships to a total of almost 600, including an increase in the number of attack submarines to 101 from 79.

The Army added two divisions and 4,000 tanks. The Air Force, though it had to scale down its plans for additional tactical fighter squadrons, received hundreds of additional, more modern aircraft, and saw the introduction of a new strategic bomber, the B-1, and a potent new nuclear missile, the MX.

On Thursday, Weinberger warned against allowing budget cuts ``to wash those all away and let those be eroded because of some fears about a deficit that could be cured easily if the domestic expenditures were cut.`` He scoffed at the idea of military spending as a root cause of the federal deficit or of the current disruption in the financial markets.

``If you have to choose between deficit reduction and too low a defense budget, I would always come down in favor of worrying much more about the nation`s security than whether or not there`s some bookkeeping transactions that seem to involve deficits,`` he said.

Members of Congress and Pentagon officials alike expect Frank C. Carlucci, who has been named to succeed Weinberger as secretary of defense, to adopt a more flexible approach to the current budget problems.

They say they expect Carlucci to tell Congress early next year that he will accept a far lower figure for military spending than is currently planned, and in next year`s budget hearings they expect him to assist Congress in deciding which programs to reduce.